The present invention refers to an air rifle of the type comprising a tubular casing, a barrel mounted in the casing, a compression cylinder displaceable within the casing and a spring actuated piston movable in the same. A tension mechanism for stretching the piston spring comprising a tension lever which is pivotally mounted at the rear portion of the casing. A tension draw bar which projects into the casing through a longitudinal slot is pivotally mounted on the compression cylinder and is connected to the tension lever.
In such air rifles the spring is stretched by moving the compression cylinder rearwardly by means of the tension mechanism thereby bringing the piston to a cocked position by hooking it on a member forming an intergral part of a firing mechanism. This operation makes the rear end of the barrel accessible through an exposed opening in the casing so that a projectile can be inserted manually into a projectile seat in the barrel and eliminates the necessity for any special device such as a loading sleeve. However, in rifles hitherto known, a displaceable compression cylinder creates certain problems of which the problem of attaching the tension draw bar to the cylinder plays an important role because the attachment means must allow for a certain pivot movement of the tension draw bar and must not prevent the displacement of the cylinder and the piston in relation to the casing and in relation to each other.